As of the time of writing, there are nine published episodes in this collection, independently ranging from 2 - 4.5 stars. Overall, Darkside Detective is a charming casual adventure, recommended on sale. The basic mechanics are extremely simple: single click to advance dialogue text or examine, and drag and drop to combine or use. Items are picked up automatically as determined by the game, and as each screen is a generally static set-piece, no walking or movement is required. The graphics are lovingly rendered pixel art with lighting effects, the soundtrack is mostly inoffensive and evocative (you may be tempted to turn down the volume in the shopping mall), and somewhat more than half of the puzzles are logical and streamlined. Each episode should take between 15 minutes and half an hour to play through ... if all goes well. The trouble reviewing this game is that there is a dramatic reduction in quality around episode five, in both writing and puzzle design. The protagonist suffers a jarring shift in character from solid everyman hero surrounded by buffoonish circumstances to a mildly tempered buffoon along for the ride, at the same time as the dialogue turns from charming and knowing self-awareness to hasty juvenile quips. Most frustrating perhaps, is the change in puzzle structure. While the early episodes use the familiar "take whatever's not nailed down" approach and use items as they become relevant, the later episodes don't allow you to take items until specific, often seemingly unrelated, puzzle triggers are met. Other times, you'll "know" that an item is unusable or irrelevant because the description or dialogue text has told you so, but really you were being mislead until such time as another event changed the item's status. This leads to an inordinate amount of trekking back and forth and re-examining objects. Even with the sloppy writing and puzzles, it has its charm (in the art above all), and is worth a couple dollars with an open walkthrough.
